


play the role of anyone but me

by j_llybean



Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV)
Genre: F/F, F/M, High School AU, M/M, and bobby and carrie are siblings, but bobby's a sophomore which is ew, but we love her still, carrie and flynn and julie are all still friends, cursing, everyones alive and its 2021, just kind of mean rn, ray is a super famous & rich photographer, so julie's rich and everyone thinks shes spoiled but she isn't i swear
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-23
Updated: 2021-03-04
Packaged: 2021-03-15 01:49:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,274
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28930530
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/j_llybean/pseuds/j_llybean
Summary: when julie and luke are partnered together for a songwriting contest in their music class, they are determined to win. only one problem; they hate each other. julie is convinced luke is just an ambitious bastard who only cares about his career and fame, and luke is convinced julie just is a spoiled goody two shoes who gets everything handed to her. yes i am aware this is cheesy, it is meant to be.idea from a post by @lydias-stiles on tumblr
Relationships: Alex Mercer & Julie Molina & Luke Patterson & Reggie Peters, Alex Mercer/Willie (Julie and The Phantoms), Bobby | Trevor Wilson & Alex Mercer & Luke Patterson & Reggie Peters, Flynn & Alex Mercer & Carlos Molina & Julie Molina & Ray Molina & Luke Patterson & Reggie Peters, Flynn & Julie Molina & Carrie Wilson, Flynn/Carrie Wilson, Julie Molina/Luke Patterson
Comments: 18
Kudos: 78





	1. force to be reckoned with

**Author's Note:**

> i came up with the title while listening to a song called two by sleeping at last so thats fun
> 
> like i said, this is based on a tumblr post my girl @lydias-stiles posted so go check that out
> 
> my tumblr is @everyonesannoyedwithme

It was the first day back at school for Julie Molina, and unfortunately, the rest of the school as well. Her father’s driver dropped her off at school less than five minutes ago and Julie was already considering calling him to pick her up. It’s not that she thought herself above all the kids in her school, she just thought most of them were below her. Especially the four boys currently blocking her locker.

“Ugh - move, you’re in my way.” Julie groaned, rolling her eyes at the boys.

“Oh, damn! The princess speaks to us, guys.” Luke Patterson. The single most obnoxious boy Julie had ever met in her life. He was loud and annoying and practically married to his dumb guitar. Julie hated his stupid face.

“Just move. You’re in front of my locker.” She groaned, putting one manicured hand on her hip and leaning her weight against it. Julie eyed the other three. Two of them were talking to each other, Peters and Wilson. Those two could be decent, sometimes, but Julie hated Wilson for publicly dumping his ex the year before. She hadn't been close with the poor girl, but you didn't just do that to someone. The third boy, Mercer, was smiling at his phone. He was the most tolerable of the group. They had biology together last year and he was good at it.

“What’re you gonna do about it? Call your daddy?” Patterson asked, mocking her fathers status. It's not like it was her fault her dad just happened to be a famous photographer who insisted on only the best for his oldest child. Julie just scoffed at the boy standing in front of her.

“I can smash that pretty guitar of yours.” She said with a sweet smile, tossing her dark curls over her shoulder.

“Pshh. You wouldn’t. Don’t wanna get those hands dirty, hm?” Patterson's eyes flickered to her hand, obviously referring to her fresh French manicure. Julie just rolled her eyes a second time and shifted her weight to the other side.

“Fucking move, Patterson!” She said, finally losing any patience she previously had with the boy. The other boys looked up from what they were doing at the rising tension between the two. Peters and Wilson didn't seem too concerned. Mercer did.

“Make me.” Patterson growled, leaning in towards Julie’s shorter frame.

“Bite me!” Julie spat at him.

Patterson reeled back at that, barking out a laugh. “So the princess has some fire after all. I guess you aren't an unfeeling robot.”

“And I guess you aren't a total idiot,” Julie said, glaring at the obnoxious child of a teenager. “oh wait. Never mind!” She finished with a sweet smile.

Mercer reached out and quickly grabbed Patterson’s shoulder before the teenager could move towards Julie at the insult. To her luck, a familiar blonde came up to the group at just the perfect moment.

“Ugh, why does it smell like testosterone and axe over here? Did you try out a new perfume, Jules?” Carrie asked, approaching the hostile girl.

Julie's entire demeanor changed, her scowl turning into a bright smile that lit up her whole face. 

“No, but maybe these dumbasses did. What's the new scent called, boys? Disappointing your mother?” Julie quipped, reaching out to link arms with the taller blonde.

“Nah, it's actually railing your mother.” Wilson said, looking Julie up and down with a slight smirk. “Because that's what I spent all last night doing.”

“Ew, what's my idiot brother doing here? Doesn't he know this hallway is for juniors?” Carrie asked, pretending to whisper. 

“I don't know, but he and his sophomore ass need to leave.” Julie stage whispered back.

“Ha ha, very funny.” Wilson said to the two girls. He turned to his friends. “See y'all later?”

“Yeah, see you at lunch. Alex’s boyfriend is saving us a seat, so find him. We have music before lunch so we’ll probably be late.” Peters said.

They all did some sort of elaborate handshake before Wilson left and Julie and Carrie exchanged a look. Julie sighed loudly.

“Just move, assholes.” She said, already exhausted by the conversation. Julie could see Carrie raise an eyebrow at the boys in her peripheral vision. 

Patterson raised his hands in surrender, a grin finally taking over his face in place of the scowl he usually aimed at Julie. 

“Alright, alright, but don't say I never did anything for you, Molina. See you in music class, ladies!” He called as he finally dragged Peters and Mercer away from Julie’s locker. 

“God, I hate my brother’s dumbass friends.” Carrie grumbled, moving to lean against the locker next to Julie’s.

“They always look like they just crawled out of a bar. It's gross.” Julie shuddered slightly as she opened her locker to get her books.

“I know right! But whatever, enough about them. How have you been? I haven't seen you in, like, a week. How's Carlos? He’s so much more interesting than Bobby.” Carrie asked, a much more pleasant look settling over her features.

“I’m good and so is Carlos. He was excited to get back to school. I think he has a lot of friends in his class this year, and dad agreed to let him go to a public school instead of that awful private school he was in.” Julie said.

“Oh that's great! He's been dying to go to a public school for, like, ever.”

“Yeah. I don't see the big deal though. It's not that great here.”

“That's for sure.” Carrie’s phone buzzed, and she opened it at lightning speed to see who texted her. She chuckled.

“Flynn's late. She said to meet her in class and that she's bringing you your coffee and me my tea.”

“Of course she is. Make sure mine has a-”

“A shot of hazelnut, I know. I already asked.”

“You, Carrie Wilson, are an angel.”

“I know. Now c’mon, we have to get going or we’ll be late too. And you know Levy has a reputation for dealing with late students.”

“Oh yeah, Flynn's dead when she gets here.”

“For sure.”

As Carrie walked away and Julie finished locking up her stuff again, Patterson’s smile lingered in her mind. It was so rarely aimed at her, and infuriating as it was, she did like seeing it. Julie closed her eyes momentarily and huffed out a breath, clearing any image of Patterson from her mind. She wasn't about to think about that boy any longer than necessary.


	2. fight our energy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> haha some real tension shit here. please tell me if its absolute trash but im hoping it isn't. anyways the songwriting contest thingy gets assigned :)

English, math, and chemistry were excruciating. Julie was a good student, of course, but going over the same syllabus in each class over and over again was not her thing. Luckily, fourth period was music class, and then she had lunch. Unluckily, Patterson, Peters, and Mercer were in her music class.

Julie, Flynn, and Carrie all had third period and fourth together, so they walked together to music class, and when they got there, it was practically empty. The three girls, who had long since ditched their coffees and teas, chose seats together in the middle of the room. 

Not long after the girls had settled into their seats, the bell rang and Mrs. Harrison, the music teacher, moved to close the door. As she reached for the handle, three boys slid into the classroom. Peters and Patterson raced to the last empty seats in the back of the room, Peters practically falling out of his seat and Patterson unable to contain his laughter. Mercer just stood in front of Mrs. Harrison with a tired expression on his face.

“Hi, Alex.” the teacher said with a raised eyebrow.

“Hi, Mrs. Harrison. Sorry about them.” He gestured vaguely towards the two others.

“It's alright. At least they’re amusing.” She said with a slight smile. Mercer chuckled before going to take the last available seat. Coincidentally next to Carrie. Julie, Carrie, and Flynn all rolled their eyes at each other.

“Okay class. I’m sure you’ve tuned out all your other teachers when they read through the syllabus, so I’ll let you all do that in your own time. I expect you will all turn it in on Friday signed by at least one parent.” Mrs. Harrison said to the class. “Now. Onto the interesting stuff; to kick off the year, I have decided to host a songwriting contest!” Murmurs rippled through the class, kids sitting up in their seats and glancing at each other. “Just one catch - you must work with a partner, and it must be the partner I assign for you.”

Everyone groaned. 

“Oh c’mon Mrs. H, can’t we just write alone?” Patterson called out.

“No, this is meant to be a team exercise. You will be graded on how smoothly your song flows and the incorporation of different instruments in your song, as well as a subjective grade from each of your peers. Which means you will perform for the class.”

Another groan from the students.

“God, I hope we get paired together.” Julie leaned over and whispered to Flynn. All three girls wrote music, but Carrie always wrote alone. Flynn and Julie had written together before, and both girls were crossing their fingers that they'd get paired together.

“Okay, I'm going to read out your partners now. No trading. Kravet and Keller. Adams and Hill.” Julie glanced around at the rest of the class. She could do this, it wouldn't be horrible to get paired with someone who wasn't Flynn. As long as it wasn't-

“Molina and Patterson.” Mrs. Harrison called out to the class.

“Shit.” Julie whispered. Carrie and Flynn's heads whipped around to Julie with sympathetic expressions. “Shit, fuck, shit. Fucking hell.” Clearly, the only words in Julie’s vocabulary at the moment were curse words.

“Jones and Wilson.” was the next duo to leave Mrs. Harrison's mouth.

Great. Her two best friends were paired together and she got stuck with Mr. McBiceps Electric Guitar. Just Julie’s luck.

“Peters and Danforth-Evans. Evans-McKessie and Mercer. And finally, Jacobs and Barry. You have the rest of today’s class to get to know your partner and start brainstorming. You'll get one class every week to work on your song, but other than that I expect each of you to meet outside of school. The song is due next Friday. Now get to work!” Mrs. Harrison called before starting to make the rounds around the class.

Julie glanced behind her and locked eyes with Patterson. He looked smug. She turned back around and sighed loudly before grabbing her back and standing from her seat.

“Wish me luck ladies. If you hear any screams from the back of the classroom, it's just me strangling him with his guitar strap. No big deal.” She joked.

Carrie and Flynn laughed before both hugging her. 

“Good luck, babe.” Flynn said.

“Yeah, and maybe try not to kill them. I'll never hear the end of it from Bobby if my best friend killed his.” Carrie joked.

Julie half smiled, but it felt like a wince. She slowly made her way to the back of the classroom, where Patterson was. Fortunately, Kayla Evans-McKessie, Mercer’s partner, was back there too. She and Patterson were in the middle of a heated argument when Julie got to the empty seat next to Patterson.

“Wow, Patterson. Is it natural instinct for you to annoy every girl you interact with?” Julie asked mock-sympathetically. Kayla laughed.

“Definitely seems like it. Sorry you got stuck with him.”

“Hey!” Patterson exclaimed. “I’m right here.”

Kayla and Julie looked at each other and then back at the boy. “We know.” they said in unison before laughing. 

“Kayla!” Mercer called. “C’mon, we have to get started.”

Kayla smiled at Julie quickly before going back to her seat next to Mercer.

“Julie Molina.” Patterson said with an appreciative smile. “Damn, I got lucky. Second best songwriter in the class!”

Julie raised an eyebrow at him. “Second best?”

“Second to me, obviously. You aren't better than me, princess, no matter how pretty your voice is.” Julie scowled at his words.

“First off, don’t call me that. Second, if anyone in this class is better at songwriting than me it's Carrie, not you.” She snapped.

“Sure thing, princess. Whatever you say.” Patterson said, grinning that stupid smile of his.

“Ugh. Look, we have to write this song and I am not losing.”

“Good to hear, because neither am I.”

“I thought maybe we could build upon a song I already started. I have a basic melody line - for the piano, obviously - and it would just need layering and lyrics.” Julie pulled her journal out of her bag and handed it to Patterson, the book already open to the song she had started the day before.

“Hm…” Patterson said as he looked over what she had. “It’s nice, but kind of boring. What if during the chorus we add something like this?” He grabbed a pencil from the small pocket of his backpack and started writing over what she had.

When he handed it back to Julie, she read over what he had written humming along. 

“This is… actually really good. You came up with it just now?” she asked.

“No, I had been working on it last week. Couldn't figure out what it was missing until you handed me what you had. Your cute little melody had everything my rockin’ idea needed, princess.” Patterson said with a wink. Julie rolled her eyes, fighting a smile.

She was not allowed to find that cute.

“We should meet after school. I want to get this over with as quickly as possible. My place?” Julie said, glancing at the clock. The bell was going to ring in a minute, the class having moved faster than she anticipated.

“Sure. But I’m gonna need your address, princess.” God, that smirk was going to drive Julie crazy, only if the dumb nickname didn't do so first.

“How about you just put your number in my phone and I’ll text it to you?” Julie asked. She wanted this to take as little time as possible and if the agonizing boy had to have her phone number for that to happen, then so be it. Reaching into her back pocket, Julie pulled her phone out and opened a new contact. Patterson plucked her phone out of her hand, a shit-eating grin spreading on his face.

“Y’know, if you wanted my number, princess, you could’ve just asked.” He said before handing her phone back. Julie pursed her lips and shot him a glance before looking down at the name he had entered as his contact.

Luke ;) 💕

Julie was almost ready to make good on her statement to Flynn and Carrie and strangle the boy when the bell rang, saving him. Patterson pulled his bag onto his shoulder and started walking backwards out of the classroom, his eyes trained on Julie the whole time. 

“No booty calls!” He yelled from the doorway.

Julie turned pink. _As if._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> haha since im making the most of motivation, here's chapter 2 already! also yes this chapters title is from an ariana grande song. and what about it.


	3. puppy dog eyes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> julie’s friends make fun of her for her rivalry with luke. julie’s in denial, and luke is a simp. as usual.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hehe sorry for being gone so long, i got busy with school and also writers block for the story. hope you guys like the chapter and i’ll try to update again soon!

“I just don’t understand him. I mean, one minute we’re arguing then the next he’s practically flirting with me? Where’s the logic? The consistency?” Julie asked her friends as she picked at her lunch. 

“It’s Patterson. There is no logic or consistency.” Flynn deadpanned.

“But you have to admit, he’s pretty cute.” Nick Danforth-Evans, one of Julie’s favorite people, pointed out.

“Ugh, no! He’s awful and no amount of puppy dog eyes will make up for that.” Julie said.

“Even when they’re very convincing and cute puppy dog eyes?” Nick teased.

“Y’know what, if you think he’s so cute, you should be his partner in music.” Julie pointed her fork at the boy before giving up on trying to eat the school lunch and grabbing Carrie’s chips.

“Hey!” Carrie said.

“Hey yourself. Dad is making me buy lunch, but the food here is inedible.” Julie explained. “Seriously though Nick, trade partners with me please! Even Peters is better than Patterson.”

“Oh hell no. My bisexual ass is having a hard enough time concentrating when Reggie’s right there, I can’t even imagine trying to focus around Luke.” Nick said. He put a hand over his heart. “I guess you’ll just have to be strong and stay partners with him.”

Julie threw a chip at her friend. “Fuck you.”

“Woah, Molina, didn’t know you were into Danforth-Evans like that!” said a familiar deep voice from behind her. Julie whirled around in her seat and scowled when she saw Patterson. She hurled a chip at him. 

“Go away.” Julie said, sounding very similar to a child whose barbie doll was just stolen.

Patterson clutched his chest as if he had been shot. “You wound me with your artful insults.”

“What do you want?” Julie asked, still annoyed. She knew she sounded like a petulant child, but when it came to Patterson, she didn’t care. He had seen just about every ugly side of Julie at this point and they both knew it. At this point, filtering themselves was useless.

“And where are your goons?” Flynn piped up.

“My goons?” Patterson asked, confused.

“Lackeys.” Carrie supplied helpfully.

“Henchmen.” Nick said.

“Bodyguards.” Flynn finished.

“You mean the boys?” Patterson finally caught on.

“Oh my God, please tell me you game with them.” Flynn said.

“No?”

“Ugh, boring.”

“Back to the question,” Nick steered the conversation back to its original course. “Where are the boys?”

“Oh they’re over there.”

“Then why are you here?” Carrie asked, her eyes narrowing.

“Couldn’t just go all of lunch without seeing my favorite princess!” Patterson exclaimed, earning himself a glare from Julie. 

“Uh uh, I don’t buy it. What do you want?” Julie asked.

Patterson sighed. “I need to work on our song tonight.”

“Need to?” Julie said, not believing him.

“Yeah. My mom’s been on my ass lately and I’m gonna be busy the rest of the week. I have band practice with the guys and my mom probably won’t like it if I’m out extra long this week.” Patterson explained. Julie couldn’t put her finger on it, but there was this look in his eyes. Those puppy dog eyes were saying something extra that Patterson’s mouth wasn’t. Something that made her say-

“Okay.” Julie sighed out.

“Okay?” Patterson said.

“Yeah, you can come tonight. I’ll text you the address.”

“Okay, great. I have a detention tonight, so I can’t be there right away, but I’ll be there close to five.”

“Fine.” Julie dragged a hand across her face, already tired by the rambunctious teenage boy. “Don’t say I never did anything for you, Patterson.” her mouth quirked up slightly at the grin that spread across his face from her using his words against him.

“Wouldn’t dream of it, princess.” Patterson said before walking back to his table.

Julie turned back to her friends. Carrie’s jaw was slack, Flynn had a shit-eating grin on her face, and Nick’s eyes were so far up that they practically touched his hairline.

“What?” She asked.

“What? What? Oh my God, Jules, you were flirting with him!” Flynn squealed.

Julie went pink. “I was not!”

“You totally were.” Carrie said. “Don’t bullshit us, we know what you look like when you’re flirting.”

“I can’t believe this. You. Were flirting. With Patterson!” Nick said, still in shock.

“I hate all of you. I was not flirting!”

“Just admit it, Jules, the puppy dog eyes do get to you!” Flynn accused.

Julie dropped her head into her hands. “I’m not listening to you guys.”

“Ignore us all you want, it doesn’t change the fact that we’re right!” Carrie said in a sing-song voice.

“Oh, she knows. She just has to admit it to herself.” Nick told the others knowingly.

In the first show of luck Julie and received from the universe all day, the bell rang signaling the end of lunch. She shot up, grabbed her bag, and basically sprinted out of the lunch room.

“Julie! Julie, wait! Your food!” She heard Nick call from behind her, but ignored. They could handle it, but she needed to get out of there.

Julie was _not_ flirting with Luke Patterson.


	4. iv: flying solo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> luke comes over to julie's house to work on their project. tension is HIGH.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is kinda short and boring and filler-y bc the next chapter is where the real shit is

It was almost five and Luke still wasn’t here. After school had ended, Julie had texted him her address to no response. She definitely wasn’t waiting for a response from him, which is definitely not why she kept checking her phone. And definitely not why she jumped and almost dropped said phone when it finally buzzed.

Luke ;) 💕

just got out of detention

omw now

Julie

ok

eta?

Luke ;) 💕

gps says 5:13

Julie

dont text and drive

Luke ;) 💕

whatever you say princess

Julie rolled her eyes at the boy. Annoyingly enough, he was just as obnoxious over text as he was in person. It definitely was not endearing. She grabbed her tie-dye zip up cropped hoodie and slipped into it. Grabbing her phone off her bed, Julie went downstairs and grabbed a plate of her tía’s chocolate chip cookies that she had set aside for tonight. She paused in the living room where her dad sat on the couch, scrolling through some of his more recent pictures on his computer.

“Dad.” She said. Ray’s head snapped up to look at her, clearly startled, before a soft smile settled on his face at the sight of his oldest child. “I have a music assignment and my partner is on his way over right now. We’re gonna work in Mom’s studio.”

“Okay, mija. Does your partner want to stay for dinner?” Ray asked kindly.

“I’ll ask him, but probably not.”

“Okay. Have fun.”

Julie checked her phone for the time and saw it said 5:09, so she made her way over to the studio. The plate of cookies was placed on the coffee table next to a stack of guitar picks. She had noticed how quickly Luke seemed to go through them and wanted to be prepared. It didn't mean anything. Julie’s phone buzzed.

Luke ;) 💕

standing in front of the gate

It didn't take long for Julie to rush over to the metal gate and let Patterson in. 

“Hi.” She said, semi-breathless from how she sped to let him in before her dad could.

“Hey. Did I take your breath away already, princess?” Patterson asked, a dumb smirk playing on the edge of his lips.

Julie rolled her eyes. “Don’t be a smartass. C’mon, we’ll work in my mom’s studio.”

Julie led Patterson to the studio and he looked around in what looked like awe at her mother’s garden. When she let him into the garage-turned studio, he whistled.

“Damn, Molina, this place is nice.” Patterson said appreciatively.

“Yeah, it took mom forever to decorate. We can work over here and use whatever instruments we need.”

“Sweet. Are those cookies?”

“Yep. Tía Victoria’s world famous recipe. You can have as many as you want.”

“Double sweet!” Patterson grabbed a cookie and bit into it. His eyes widened and he groaned. “Shit, Molina, you weren’t lying when you said world famous. These are so fucking good!”

“I know.” Julie said with a cocky smile. “I helped Tía perfect the recipe.”

Mouth full, Luke gestured towards the grand piano. “Can you play what you were thinking for the song so far? Like, music and lyrics. I wanna hear it before I add my part in with the guitar.”

Julie shrugged. “Sure.”

She walked over to the piano and sat on the bench, shuffling around some of the sheet music on the stand for a moment before clearing her throat and starting to play.

“My life, my life would be real low, zero, flying solo. My life, my life would be real low, zero, flying solo without you. Hey, yeah. Hey, yeah. My life, my life would be real low, zero, flying solo without you.”

Julie let the last note ring before looking to Patterson. “Well?” she said expectantly.

“I like it. It’ll go good with the guitar part.” He started playing the song on the acoustic guitar he had grabbed. Julie sang along as he went, and when she got to the “flying solo” part, Patterson added a harmony that brought a grin to Julie’s face. When they finished, she squealed.

“That sounded so good! Oh my God, Luke, that was awesome!” He smiled tentatively at her excitement, not missing how she used his first name. Her cheeks turned pink, indicating that she hadn’t missed it either.

“Yeah, it did.” He said, the smile never leaving his face.

They worked on the song for a little more than hour before Luke got a call from his mom and had to leave.

Julie definitely didn't dwell on the fact that they had been almost friends for an hour and a half.

She definitely didn't hope for a text from him.

And she definitely didn’t like Luke- no, not Luke, Patterson.

She definitely didn’t like Patterson.


	5. v: screaming into pillows isn't always enough

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> luke needs julie after stuff goes down at home. bonding sesh! also some background on julie's fam

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ohoho the angst is strong with this one! also yall get double update bc im just that amazing (actually i feel guilty that i go so long without updating but shhhhh) MWAH ILY ALL xxx

“Patterson?” Julie said, agape at the boy standing in her doorway. 

“Hey, Molina.” He smiled weakly at her. Patterson was soaking wet, looking like he walked all the way from his house in the rain. He had a backpack slung over one shoulder and his guitar case strapped to his back.

“What are you doing here? It’s so late and it’s a school night!” Julie hissed at the boy. “It can’t be about the song or you would’ve called. So why are you here?” 

Patterson’s smile slipped. “Um, my mom, she... fuck, she got pissed at me. We had a fight. She told me to leave.” He swallowed thickly. “She said I needed to get out of the house before she said something she’d regret. I didn’t know where else to go.” His voice cracked and Julie softened. That something she saw in his eyes earlier at lunch, the something that said there was a lot more to the story, was back and it almost broke her heart.

“What about your friends? I’m sure they'd be fine with letting you crash for the night.” Julie asked.

“I can’t. I spent practically the whole summer rotating through their houses, I can’t do that to them or their parents again. I just need somewhere to sleep for the night.” Luke wet his lips and sighed. “Please.”

Julie looked behind her at where her dad was asleep on the couch and stepped out of the house, closing the door behind her. “Follow me.” She said.

She led Luke down the path to her mom’s studio and hauled the doors open. Julie stood in front of the entrance and blocked Luke from entering for a moment. “You can stay here for the night. The couch pulls out into a bed and there’s a bathroom with a shower if you need that kind of thing. I’ll come check on you in the morning before I have to leave for school, but bottom line: my dad won’t like it if you’re still here in the morning considering I’m not going to tell him you’re staying. He has enough on his plate without a delinquent teenager staying overnight. When I come check on you in the morning at around six-thirty, you should be ready to go.” Her stern gaze melted for a moment as she looked into those hazel puppy dog eyes. “All that being said, do you want to talk about what happened?”

A tear slipped down Luke’s cheek that he hastily wiped away, as if to hide it from Julie. “Um, yeah. That would-” he hiked his back up on his shoulder. “That would be nice.” Luke’s voice was hoarse, whether from crying or singing Julie couldn't tell.

She smiled slightly at him before stepping out of his way and letting him into the studio. Julie walked over to a cabinet and pulled out two mugs, a small heating plate, and two hot chocolate packets. “Hot chocolate? My mom always makes it for me and Carlos when we have bad days.”

“Thanks.” Luke said, his voice barely louder than a whisper. He looked as though he was in a daze as he looked around the studio, taking everything in, before sitting down on the couch.

“Talk to me, Luke. What happened?” Julie said from where she was plugging in the heating plate and getting out milk from the mini fridge.

“I was just talking to my mom like I always do about what the week was gonna look like. I told her I had band practice every day after school because we have this really awesome gig coming up on the weekend.” A ghost of a smile flitted across his face before his eyes clouded over with anger and sadness and he frowned. “And of course she had a problem with it. She always has a problem with it. ‘It’s a school night, Luke’ and ‘You need to take AP classes, Luke’ and ‘You have to start thinking about college, Luke’ and Jesus fuck, I’m sick of it!

“I’m so sick of her shit! She’s always telling me something new that I have to do or telling me what I can’t do. I feel like I’m suffocating and drowning in that house and music is the only way out, it’s the air and freedom that I can’t get whenever I’m there and she wants me to forget about it! She keeps telling me it’s not a stable career or some bullshit like that. But she can’t seem to understand that I don’t care if it’s stable or not!” Luke was crying at this point. He wasn't yelling, but the fury in his voice was tainted with a sadness that felt like it reverberated through Julie’s soul. She picked up the finished hot chocolate, turned off the heating plate, and brought the mugs over to where he sat on the couch. Placing the mugs on the table, Julie sat back and looked at Luke. Her eyes searched his face, taking in the tear stained cheeks and how his lips were red from biting at them in frustration. 

Luke had seen Julie in her worst moments and, Julie realized, she had seen him at his worst.

Yet he still came to her for comfort.

He still trusted her with his true feelings. 

Wordlessly, Julie held out her arms and Luke moved over so that he could lean into her embrace. In that moment, they didn’t need words. Julie stroked Luke’s hair, playing with the tips of it and he just rested with his head in her lap.

“I’m sorry.” He said eventually, his voice scratchy.

“For what?” Julie asked softly.

“For dumping all this on you. I know we’re not really…” friends, Julie finished for him in her head.

“It’s okay. Sometimes you just have to get this kind of thing out and screaming into a pillow doesn't always work.” Julie said. She knew plenty about screaming into pillows. It felt like that was all she did after her mom got sick. “After my mom’s diagnosis, I feel like I spent all my time ranting to Carrie, Nick, and Flynn about how unfair it is that she got sick. I still do it sometimes, when she has a particularly hard round of chemo.”

Luke sat up and looked at her, his eyes wide. “Shit, I forgot. Cancer, right?”

Julie nodded. “Stage four thyroid. We got the diagnosis last April.”

“Yeah, I remember Bobby mentioning that a couple times.”

“Yeah, he probably heard Carrie talking about it.”

“Shit, here I am complaining about a little argument with my mom and you’re losing yours. I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. I’m gonna go get some sleep. You’re okay here?”

“Yeah. Thank you.” 

“Text me if you need anything. Remember, I’ll be in around six-thirty.”

“Okay. Good night, Julie.”

“Good night, Luke.”


End file.
